Essential Films of the Silent Era

As a public service, I thought I would offer a list of those essential silent films that anyone curious about this era of film history should buy or rent.

All of these films are available on VHS, and some are obtainable on laser or DVD. You can find out how to purchase any of these films by clicking here.

1) "Les Vampires" (Louis Feuillade/1915)
2) "The Birth of a Nation" (D.W. Griffith/1915)
3) "Intolerance" (D.W. Griffith/1916)
4) "The Chaplin Mutuals" (Charles Chaplin/1916-17)
5) "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (Robert Wiene/1919)
6) "Broken Blossoms" (D.W. Griffith/1919)
7) "Greed" (Erich Von Stroheim/1923)
8) "Safety Last" (Fred Newmeyer-Sam Taylor/1923)
9) "Sherlock Jr." (Buster Keaton/1924)
10) "The Gold Rush" (Charles Chaplin/1925)
11) "Faust" (F.W. Murnau/1925)
12) "The Big Parade" (King Vidor/1925)
13) "The Strong Man" (Frank Capra/1926)
14) "The General" (Buster Keaton/1927)
15) "Napoleon" (Abel Gance/1927)
16) "Sunrise" (F.W. Murnau/1927)
17) "October" (Sergei Eisenstein/1928)
18) "The Crowd" (King Vidor/1928)
19) "The Wind" (Victor Seastrom/1928)
20) "Pandora's Box" (G.W. Pabst/1928)
21) "The Wedding March" (Erich Von Stroheim/1928)
22) "City Lights" (Charles Chaplin/1931)

If you have any ideas for films that you think I should add to this list, you can let me know by clicking here.

Keep in mind, however, that the films you suggest have to be available on VHS, Laserdisc or DVD -- and in a version that does justice to the original. That explains why, for example, "Metropolis" didn't make the cut -- and why Abel Gance's "La Roue" (an indisputably great film) isn't there either. In the first case, the versions on tape or disc don't do justice to a great original, and the latter isn't available in the U.S. at all.

I will eventually be making a supplementary list of silent films that you might want to check out once you've explored the first 25. So keep coming back to this page for further updates.

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Here's the next Essential Films Page:
Essential Films of the 1930s

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